Coal- Seams of Van Diemeii's Land. 123 



For more ample details of the geological features of 

 this District than I am able to give, and its relation to 

 the Coals found at Jerusalem, which I was unable to 

 visit, I can hardly do better than draw attention to the 

 able Keport on these Districts by Dr. Joseph Milligan, 

 published in the " Papers and Proceedings of the Eoyal 

 Society of Van Diemen's Land," Vol. I. Part I. ; May, 1849. 

 At Prosser's Plains in the Back Eiver, a branch of Prosser's 

 River, and about five miles from the residence of T. Crut- 

 tenden, Esq., two seams of Coal occur, together about 4 feet 

 thick, dipping (S. 15° W.) to (W. 20° S.) from 35° to 50°, 

 and passing under a flat of about 2000 acres. 



These Coals are bituminous, though not of first-rate 

 quality ; they ignite freely, and burn with a bright flame, 

 but are of rather slaty structure, and contain a large per- 

 centage of earthy and incombustible matter. On three sides 

 of the flat the carboniferous beds are cut off by high 

 ridges of massive greenstone ; but on the fourth side to- 

 wards the plain, and in the direction of the dip, no 

 eruptive rocks occur. 



In this direction the above seams of Coal, and perhaps 

 others, might be found at no great depth over a consider- 

 able area ; the distance, eight or ten miles, from the nearest 

 shipping-place in Prosser's Bay, and the great expense at- 

 tendant on the construction of the necessary road, appears 

 the chief difliculty in the way of their being worked to advan- 

 tage. The greater part of the ground is, I believe, the pro- 

 perty of the Crown. 



The very high angle at which the seams are dipping 

 where exposed in the Back River is probably only local ; 

 and they would most likely be found to flatten at a short 

 distance on the dip, in conformity with the overlying 

 sandstones to the S.W., as shown in Diagram, PL I, fig. 3. 



